Cash as a form of payment is rare these days as plastic takes over, and online it is all but nonexistent. Not anymore, though -- Walmart now allows online customers to pay for their orders with the good ol' Greenback.
Here's how it works: customers place their orders on the website, and select "Cash" as the payment option. They then have 48 hours to take a printed-out copy of the order form and pay at any local Walmart store. Walmart's demographics seem to support such an offering, so it is obvious why the retailer would offer cash as a form of payment.
The Bentonville, Ark. retail giant notes that only 15 percent of its in-store transactions are paid in true credit, while the rest are paid in cash or cash equivalent. A larger portion of its customer base lives paycheck to paycheck and may not have the means or desire to access a bank account or credit card. In a recent study, Walmart found that nearly two-thirds of "underbanked" customers would use such a feature if it was available.
"[Pay with cash] makes it easier for our customers to shop the way they want, where they have access to a broader product selection at Walmart.com coupled with the convenience of payment and shipping as they want", Walmart.com president and CEO Joel Anderson says. Anderson believes this is a huge opportunity for the company.
Low-income customers are likely not the only ones to use such a system either: some consumers prefer to not share payment information over the Internet. A pay with cash system is likely very attractive to these consumers as well.
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